TriciaToronto - Congrats on getting to week 8. This is where I started to think "Wow, I might actually do this whole program..." Now that you are so close to finishing, have you thought about what to do after C25K?

W5D1 done and I was so anxious about the D2 8 minutes that I took a page from all your notes and tacked time on to the first and last runs. So I really ran 6 2/3, 5 and 7 min. I am no longer worried about Tuesday's day 2 run. Thursday's 20 minutes, though. ... Thanks to everyone for their great reports. You are making this so much easier!

Week 7, Day 1...25 minutes done. I don't want to jinx myself but today's run was not that bad. I was 20 minutes in before I even looked at my stopwatch. I think I actually could have kept running! I added a new song to my playlist ("Proud" - The Biggest Loser Theme Song) that says "What have you done today to make you feel proud?" and I just keep yelling in my head "THIS RUN!"

I just had to send everyone on this forum a sincere thank you for all your inspiring posts. I was so scared for W5D3 that I took 3 weeks off from the program and tried to do my own goofy, made-up jogging schedule. I really needed the discipline of the C25K program, so I decided that yesterday would be my day to conquer W5D3. On my birthday, I ran for 20 minutes straight for the first time in my life. What a great birthday present to myself. :-) Thank you all for sharing your stories and ideas. They were really a great help to me.

What a great story, Karibee and I cannot think of a better gift you could give yourself than reminding yourself that you can reach and grab what you want. But I know your fear about that 20 min. run. W5D3 for me is Thursday. I was kinda hoping I'd have issues today with W5D2 so I could use that as an excuse to repeat but I ran W5D2 today just fine without inhaler or Alleve (accidental and a first) and on my neighborhood streets during rush hour traffic (new to me). Had a flat tire last night and car was in the shop because there was a locked lug nut issue. Mazda3. If you have one, take those locked lug nuts off.

Ideas anyone? How did you prepare mentally to go from intervals to a solid 20 min., which happens to be longer than any of the running and walking periods that came before?

Congratulations on finishing W5D2! I started mentally preparing myself two days before, mostly by psyching myself up. It was almost as if I didn't give myself a choice: I was going to complete that 20 minutes on my birthday. It was going to happen. The day before I was really nervous, so I distracted myself a lot, lol. During the run I tried to concentrate on some of the strategies I have been reading about in a book. I tried to lose myself in the running by concentrating on my breathing and tried to do some belly breathing. I have to say the first ten were cake (did I just say that?), the next five were ok, but the last five stunk. I just wanted to be done, but when I felt that way I did a body check. It sounds weird, but I would ask myself, "Why do you want to stop?" and would then talk to the different parts of my body. "Legs? You guys ok? How about you lungs?" If there was nothing wrong, then there was really no reason to stop. I got a side stitch after about 14 minutes, but I just tried to make peace with it and welcome it along for the ride, haha. I probably sound crazy, but it worked for me. :-)~ I may be singin' a different tune come W6D3! AGH!

OMG you're my hero...I''m on week 4 day 2 tomorrow. W4D1 kicked my butt but I finished. At least I know what I'm up against tomorrow AM. I'm so scared of adding more running time...as you can see I've got stupid mental issues...HAHAHA!

Anyway, just wanted to say you're amazing and I'm excited to be where you are VERY soon

I love reading all these and I wish I had the time to tell each of you how great I think you're doing, but my computer is still not working and this one logs me off without warning. Plus it's just a bare bones thing someone gave me for my 3 year old to do starfall so it doesn't even have a word program. Life has been crazy lately so I pop on read and pop off. It sounds like everyone is doing great and some of you are doing amazing.

I haven't been getting out as often as I'd like but I'm still working on it. Week 6 took me over a week because I missed so many days, but somehow I managed to make it through all the days and although I didn't rock any of them I didn't totally blow any either. Did day 3 monday night. I had to slow down to a walk for a few seconds twice to get a drink, and by the end I was still moving my feet in a jogging motion but there were times I wasn't even sure I was moving forward. Once I when I felt that way I looked at the gps and it said I was going 1.9 MPH, LOL I know that was my (s)low point, and it made me laugh. Needless to say slowing down that much toward the end means I'm not covering much more ground at 25 minutes than I did at 20. Hopefully that will start to improve over the next few weeks, but I don't think 5k is on the calender for at least a few weeks after I finish the program. Even with the walks I'm not quite hitting the distance's for the days. (My 5 minute walks only cover a 1/4 mile each. I always thought I was a fast walker so I don't get it, but no matter how slow I go or how fast I try to walk I end up within about 100 yards of that. I don't get it. I am fine with it.

I think with this heat it will be after the summer ends before I won't need water at least once or more likely twice on my jogs. It's just too hot to risk it the way I sweat. Also we are in a drought and the dust and pollen is killing my allergies so I need a couple of swallows to keep my throat clear. I don't think I should count that against myself do you?

I hope everyone doesn't mind if I post here without commenting on most of the posts. I'll try to do better in the future.

Get up and try again! I think I must be setting a record for how many times I've been sidelined in my quest to actually run an entire 5K. Back injury, bronchitis, knee injury, bad cold, broken toe, biopsy. I am determined to make it.

2013 - Gritty Goddess Mud Run (Run/Walk)

2013 - Firefly Run (Run/Walk)

2014 - ??

My 6 year old ran in the Gritty Kids Mud Run and I couldn't keep up. LOL

I'll be doing W9D2 after work tonight, then my first 5k race is Saturday (also W9D3 for me). I'll post back and let everyone know how the race went. I'm really looking forward to it. They changed the route a little bit from what I thought, so now I'm not worried about accidentally following the 10k route.

I have been spending soooo much time on different running websites that I think I'm going to scale back after my race, and I think this is going to be one of the sites I stop visiting. I'm kinda sad about it, but something has to go. If any of you are on DailyMile.com, feel free to friend request me - Jeanine C. (in Chicago). I could spend hours in these forums, but I just don't have that kind of time.

Good luck to everyone - with W5D3, Week 6, graduating and your first 5k race! Remember to never give up! And to take the longer distances in little chunks at a time, telling yourself you just need to make it to the next lamp post, or bench or song on your ipod. Or if you're on a treadmill, make it to the next 1/2 mile or 5 minutes. After you get past the first 10 minutes, tell yourself there is no way your repeating the day after you've already put that much time into it.

As crazy as it sounds, when my body wants to give up, I tell myself "This is how I roll." Meaning, during my training time, I am only allowed to run as if it's the only thing I know how to do. I think about the movie "Antanarjuat (The Fast Runner)" - which is a movie about an Inuit (eskimo) who in order to escape being murdered had to run away naked and barefoot across ice covered land day after day. It's a very strange movie to think of when I'm running, but it's the mental image of his bloody feet that make me think "this is nothing".

Anyway, my longwinded-ness is the very reason I spend too much time on these forums...Good luck everyone!

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